This is a competitive renewal to continue the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Basic Research Conference for the years 2002-2006. The Basic Research Conference, which is organized under the direction of the ACR Committee on Research (COR), consists of a one and one-half day scientific conference focusing on the basic science aspects of a major topic relevant to rheumatic diseases. It immediately precedes the Annual Meeting of the ACR. The purpose of the Basic Research Conference is to bring increasing numbers of leading basic scientists into contact with the physicians, scientists, and arthritis health professional members of the ACR, to impart current knowledge to the members of the ACR, to facilitate transfer of technology to patient care, and to increase the numbers of basic investigators attending the annual meeting. As outlined in the body of this proposal, we believe those goals are being achieved with the format of this conference. Each year the ACR Annual Meeting is located in a large city in the USA with adequate convention center capacity and hotel space to accommodate attendees of both the Basic Research Conference and the much larger affiliated meeting of ACR